TeamNerd Reviews: Author Interview: Wendy Knight (Fate of Fire Series)

The adorable and absoultely funny Wendy Knight drops by to chat about her love for unicorns, how motherhood has made her a better writer, why phone calls freak her out and all things Feudlings!

TeamNerd Reviews: As a fellow Nerdian, tell the Nerdian Kingdom what makes you qualified to being among our people (i.e. what makes you nerd *giggle*).

Wendy Knight: Umm...I totally believe in unicorns. I have a gazillion unicorn figurines in my office. Does that count?

TeamNerd Reviews: Your bio says you like to drive your husband crazy with your many eccentricities which sounds like fun! Why no water after five? Do you have obsessive-compulsive-like qualities? Live phone calls make me really nervous too! I hate being on the phone. I feel like I don’t have enough to say to fill the awkward moments of silence. I like being in person better. Why do live phone calls freak you out?

Wendy Knight: My poor husband. I'm a pain in the tail. So the water thing...we have no idea. I almost drowned when I was little, so maybe that? I will not shower after 5 pm. Brushing my teeth is a battle every night.

I think phone calls freak me out because one) my cell phone is possessed and tends to cut out or hang up at really inopportune moments, and two)because I am not clever enough to entertain someone in real-life time. It takes me a minute to come up with responses, so texting makes me look much better.

TeamNerd Reviews: If I took a trip out to Utah, where would you recommend going to visit?

Wendy Knight: Ahhhh! My favorite question ever! Utah is A-MAZ-ING. We have the most awesome national parks ever. Zion’s is absolutely gorgeous. Arches and Canyonlands are awe-inspiring. Goblin Valley is technically a state park but it's like landing on the moon. Incredible!

TeamNerd Reviews: How many National Parks have you and the family been to? Where’s the next planned trip going to be?

Wendy Knight: Haha, it's like I planned my answer with your next question ;) Eight, I think. That's only counting the ones we went to after my children were born and we set our goal. It's also not counting state parks. Our next trip, I think, is Dinosaur National Monument...our next national park is yet to be decided, but since we've been to all of them in Utah and Nevada, maybe in Wyoming? Idaho?

TeamNerd Reviews: What’s the best lesson you’ve learned from motherhood that has helped you become a better writer?

Wendy Knight: Well, here's the thing. I wanted to quit writing for a while. I had been querying Feudlings for forever and hadn't had any success. And then I was telling my daughter she could grow up to be anything she wanted, as long as she...never...gave...up. How could I tell her that when I myself was about to give up? So I didn't. And I won't let her, either. Bwahahaha.

TeamNerd Reviews: Where did the idea for FEUDLINGS stem from? What inspired the magical abilities of the characters? And where did the names Edren and Carules come from?

Wendy Knight: I actually have no idea what inspired it or where it came from. I had just had my third baby, who refused to sleep. Ever. And so I spent all night long rocking her in the dark, silent house, and I had absolutely nothing to do but daydream. I daydreamed the entire book before I even wrote the first word.

The names Edren and Carules are mixed up letters from red and azule. I mixed and twisted and added and took away until I got a word I liked. All the spells are that way, too. I'm very sneaky.

TeamNerd Reviews: FEUDLINGS is told from two separate perspectives: Ari and Shane. How did you approach writing in the two different voices? Did your husband help when it came to voicing Shane the right way as a male? Did you learn anything about yourself as a writer and/or as a woman from writing from both perspectives or writing from a male point of view?

Wendy Knight: Here is a little secret-my husband is Hunter. So Shane is sort of the exact opposite of my husband. And it's weird, but I actually have an easier time writing from Shane's POV than Ari's, I think because our personalities are more similar. My brothers are both much older than me so I grew up with only sisters. I have no idea where this inner male voice came from!

TeamNerd Reviews: Who was the hardest character to write in FEUDLINGS and why? Which character did you relate to the most?

Wendy Knight: I related to Charity the most. I put a lot of my personality traits in her (I also believe I'm psychic...but my eyes don't glow. As far as I know). So you'd think she'd also be the easiest character to write, but no. I had a hard time with her! Side story-Ari is the exact opposite of my personality. Every situation I put her in, I thought: What would I do here? And then I had her do the opposite. She's big and tough and not afraid of anything. I'm small and weak and afraid of everything!

TeamNerd Reviews: What’s one quality you have that you think your family and friends would say is the best? What’s a quality they think you need to work on and do you agree?

Wendy Knight: They tell me I'm strong. I love that they tell me that, but I don't see it. I tend to run screaming quite often. The quality they tell me to work on is my self-confidence. I'm always surprised when I succeed at something and my husband is like, “I told you so.” He likes to say that. He'll make an exception to his hardly-ever-talk rule to tell me that, in fact.

TeamNerd Reviews: What can readers expect in the sequel to FEUDLINGS? What’s the title of book (if there is one) and will we FINALLY see some progress with Hunter and Charity?! (PLEASE say yes! Or at least, have Charity punch Hunter in the nose REALLY hard to make up for it in the next book!)

Wendy Knight: Haha! In the sequel, Feudlings in Flames, Charity is kept captive by the Carules Council. Ari and Shane spend most of the book trying to save her, but there are lots of twists and turns and surprises coming that also tie into the prequel I'm working on now.. And yes, Hunter and Charity make progress. That's all I'm saying :) ps-it comes out September 3^rd!

TeamNerd Reviews: Let’s say you aren’t married or a mother yet (tell the hubby to calm down, this is only hypothetical, no one’s being killed off in this episode of One Nerd to Live), which fictional character would you LOVE to go on a date with and why? Where would you want to go with said fictional character and what would you wear on the date?

Wendy Knight: Hmm. I don't want to date my own characters, because that feels weird, so let's go with someone else's fictional character, yes? I would go out with Jace from the Mortal Instruments. I LOVE him. We would go on a motorcycle ride in a canyon. With a river, because rivers are pretty. And I would wear heels! Because I always wear heels! Preferably red ones. And jeans, because you can't ride a motorcycle in a skirt!

TeamNerd Reviews: Random Questions Time!

Do you like to walk around in socks or bare feet? SOCKS. My feet are always cold, even in the summer.

If you could take the shape of any animal, which one would you choose? A wolf. No, an eagle. No, a wolf. I don't know. Maybe a hybrid wolf/eagle? OH WAIT. A cheetah. That's my favorite animal.

Peanut butter or jelly? Peanut butter. Jelly makes me gag.

Favorite weapon: a bow! I've been shooting since I was nine. I got my husband started and now he's obsessed.

Syrup or butter on your pancakes: Syrup if it's for a meal, butter if it's for a snack.

If you ran a mile without stopping, what would happen? I can do it, but I usually want to die after (I run so I can listen to my iPod and plot battle scenes).

Favorite Disney Princess: Belle! She's my soul sister!

Least Favorite Food: Fish. Or beets.

About the Author: Wendy Knight was born and raised in Utah by a wonderful family who spoiled her rotten because she was the baby. Now she spends her time driving her husband crazy with her many eccentricities (no water after five, terror when faced with a live phone call, etcetera, etcetera). She also enjoys chasing her three adorable kids, playing tennis, watching football, reading, and hiking. Camping is also big: her family is slowly working toward a goal of seeing all the National Parks in the U.S.

You can usually find her with at least one Pepsi nearby, wearing ridiculously high heel for whatever the occasion may be. And if everything works out just right, she will also be writing.